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Royals' 2014 schedule has a Western flavor

Royals' 2014 schedule has a Western flavor

There'll be a lot of that for the Kansas City club in 2014 when they're scheduled to take on teams from the National League West in Interleague Play.

Major League Baseball announced its 2014 schedule on Tuesday.

The Royals will visit the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies next season and will welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Rockies to Kauffman Stadium.

In fact, there's an entire LA week in KC. The Dodgers, now with old KC favorite Zack Greinke, will come in on June 23-25 followed by the American League's Angels on the weekend of June 27-29. The Rockies will be at Kauffman on May 13-14, the Giants on Aug. 8-10.

Because of Houston's switch from the NL to the AL in 2013, each league has 15 teams and the Interleague games are spaced throughout the year instead of being concentrated in a certain time span.

The Dodgers made their only previous visit to Kansas City in 2005 and were swept in three games. The Giants were also in KC in 2003 and '08, the Rockies in '08 and '10.

The schedule includes 20 Interleague games, including four weekday games against archrival St. Louis. The Royals will go to Busch Stadium on June 2-3 and play host to the Cardinals on June 4-5. The latter two games will kick off an attractive homestand that also includes four games against the New York Yankees on June 6-9.

The Royals will open on the road on Monday, March 31, against current AL Central leader Detroit. The home opener will be on Friday, April 4, against the Chicago White Sox and they'll be followed into town by the Tampa Bay Rays. Like this year, the schedule will conclude with four games against the Sox at Chicago, Sept. 25-28.

The Boston Red Sox's annual visit won't come until Sept. 11-14, but it's a four-game series centered on a weekend. That starts the Royals' longest homestand of the season, 10 games that also include the White Sox and Tigers.

The Royals will go to Boston's Fenway Park for a weekend series July 18-20. Their yearly trek to Yankee Stadium will be Sept. 5-7, also a weekend.

No game times have been announced.

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.